Friday, August 31, 2012

A little Ral Partha Gnome I painted up. Still working out the kinks and getting used to Vallejo paints! I think I need to get a few more colors...Anyway, here is the little bug-eyed fella. Dont look directly into his eyes!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

After a hiatus of approximately 12 years from painting figures (and months of posting!), I decided to pick up a brush and give it another go. Having bought a few minis off eBay to practice on, my first victim is a Ral Partha figure from the '3 Stage Character' sets sculpted by Tom Meier. I really liked these sets, they included 3 minis with varying gear and detail to represent your character as you advanced in levels. Very cool idea!

This figure was the Elf Thief #01-319, produced around 1991, I think. The mini is the stage 1 figure, with basic cloak/bow/small sword. The little fella has a few fancy bits, but otherwise it represents a low level thief or fighter pretty well.

To start, I washed the figure (evidently it had been painted before) to get any residue that might be on it. Cleaned up, I realized that the sword had seen better days and had a small crack in it. I re-profiled it with a small file and emery board and a wee drop of good ol' super glue. His lead blade was reforged!

Next, I did what every mini painter does and put primer on it. To be honest, these old Partha figs dont seem to take well to primer, my elf thief looks like he gained some weight afterwards...oh well. Here is where it gets a bit fuzzy. I should have taken pictures of the base coat, the blending, blah blah but I got all jiggy painting, while watching Captain America on Netflix and blitzed right through to the finish. I still need to spray it with some matte coat and do something to the base.

So, for what its worth, that's the result after breaking off the rust and working out the kinks. I would say its good enough for play, certainly not up to standards of most of the stuff out there...Yet. :)